Diem Chau's Pencil Carvings are Tiny But Supremely Detailed

Diem Chau's carvings of graphite pencils to make different sculptures of tiny people and animals are truly remarkable when you consider the scale of the detail relative to the size of the pencil.

Many of Chau's work in the past have consisted of using pencils and crayons to carve out supremely detailed figures, and in this most recent gallery called 'A-Z: Northwest Native,' some of the exhibits show stooping bears and pensively ensconced people propped up on top of graphite pencils. Each one is hand-carved and stands perched above a grafted down pencil. Some other of Chau's carvings include a hunching gorilla, a fly and a large bird with his beak pointed upwards with food in its mouth that measures approximately an inch.

Chau, who immigrated to the US from Vietnam together with her family in 1986, is currently displaying her work at the G. Gibson Gallery in Seattle, Washington from August 30 until October 12.